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File under: ContemporaryAvant-garde Jazz
From the very first note, Norway’s Jon Balke proposes a new sonic dimension with Skrifum, continuing a line of inquiry begun with Warp (2016) and Discourses (2020), solo piano albums which also processed the acoustic environment in which the music was heard. Skrifum (the Icelandic word for “write”) takes things a step further. With the aid of electronic audio tool the Spektrafon, which he helped develop, Balke is now able to directly manipulate ambient audio sound from the piano while playing – pulling out frequencies and sustaining them as chords of harmonics. This activated reverberation becomes new material for improvised dialogue, often with quite beautiful results.
Jon Balke: “The Spektrafon’s sound feeds back in ways that demand space. I take that opportunity to play mostly monophonically and to focus on every single note and its position in the soundscape.” Skrifum was recorded in November 2023 at Village Recording in Copenhagen and edited and mastered at Bavaria Musikstudios in Munich. The album was produced by Manfred Eicher and Jon Balke.
Details
File under: ContemporaryAvant-garde Jazz
Cat. number: ECM 2839, 750 6857
Year: 2025
Notes:
Recorded November 2023
The Village Recording, Copenhagen
Engineer: [...]
Mixed by [...] and [...]
at Klokkereint Studios in Gjøvik
Cover: [...], Sign I (1973-74)
An ECM Production
℗ © 2025 ECM Records GmbH, München [on O-card back; on tray card]
℗ © 2025 ECM Records GmbH [in booklet]
℗ 2025 ECM Records GmbH [on disc]
Printed in Germany
